Yardley & District 14,

Evesham U-11/12 46pts

EVESHAM travelled to Birmingham on a cold morning with a mixed squad of 11 and 12-year-olds and they weren't going to let the conditions, journey or opposition faze them.

Right from the first whistle they warmed spectators and coaches alike with a barnstorming performance.

The first try came from the kick-off when the ball was caught and driven up field via a series of storming drives that resulted in Elliot Stook scoring.

Stook scored four tries and all of them were characterised by the same dynamic runs - shrugging off opposition left, right and centre.

Evesham had collectively and intuitively decided to maul and ruck their way through the opposition with some excellent phases that were kept going almost every time they went forward.

Even more surprising, as they were pushed back in the scrum and lost most of the put-ins, they had the advantage of some powerful forward drives from promising future second and back rows.

Andrew Uncles bulldozed his way over for two tries and was unlucky not to add to his tally on two or three other occasions.

While Stook and Uncles took all the scoring glory in the forwards, they were ably assisted by some bullocking runs and support play from Jamie Willis.

Andrew Hemmings is another strong powerful runner who isn't far off emulating the metres gained and ball winning activities of his try scoring partners.

Scott Coulson, the youngest but by no means smallest forward, also had phases where he was able to make big in roads into the opposition, while the smallest member of the forwards, hooker Stewart Rock, snapped away like a little terrier and came away with one score by kicking a conversion.

Centre Lewis Giles added two tries but the backs didn't quite match the inroads of their forward colleagues.

Tristan Walsh, Owen Jones, James Cox and Luke Fisher all put in some excellent tackles, while the backs weren't going to sit in the shadow of the forwards and gamely tried to run the ball with Tom Hemmings, Tom Fitchett, Peter Johnson, Jack Coburn and Kane Edwards all prominent.

There's training and the dreaded assault course on Sunday morning followed by the traditional match against the parents before the Christmas party/buffet.

More details at www.eveshamrugby-club.org.uk/youth